Alice Munro, who won the Nobel Prize last week, has said her most recent book is her last.

Toronto — Speak the name Alice among Canadian readers and writers and no last name is required. The clichés abound, but are no less sturdy for that. Short-story writer extraordinaire Alice Munro is "our Chekhov," a "national treasure."

So, when it was announced on Thursday that she'd won the Nobel Prize for literature, Facebook and Twitter lit up like Toronto's Skydome when the Blue Jays won their first World Series in 1992. Eyes teared with pleasure. The collective national heart swelled with joy and pride — a suitably restrained pride; anything more would be un-Canadian. The collective national head is beaver-busily examining what this might mean for Canadian literature, often referred to as CanLit. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

It's hard to tell the patients from the caregivers at the facility for at-risk youth in "Short Term 12."

That's because the mental health professionals are only slightly older than their clients and come from similarly turbulent backgrounds. And while this parallel suggests there is light at the end of the tunnel for the patients, it also indicates the past is just something you never leave behind. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

Novalie Brown has cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening disease that fills her lungs with mucus and has essentially destroyed her pancreas. She takes copious pills, eats through a feeding tube and has two to three hours of treatment every day.

But the 8-year-old, who lives in Cross Plains near Madison, didn't want to let her condition get in the way of her dream: to become a rock star. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

The Afghan film "The Patience Stone" is a "Waiting For Godot"-like tale set in a town at the front line of a non-specific Middle East war zone, where a desperate woman nurses her older, comatose husband.

He is a rebel (probably Taliban) fighter with a bullet in his head that he received not in battle but in a petty argument, leaving his much younger wife to care for him. With no money for drugs, she hangs an IV bag of water and salt on a wall and puts the drip tube in his mouth. His family has abandoned her and their two daughters. And, not knowing if he's alive or dead, she fretfully tends to him, as the war rages outside her door, and conducts a running monologue. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

Stories of persecution, overcoming obstacles and Groucho Marx are part of the 16th annual Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival, Sunday through Thursday at the Marcus North Shore Cinema, 11700 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon.

Sunday: 7:30 p.m., "Ballad of the Weeping Spring," an award-winning movie about a band, torn apart by tragedy, that reunites for an emotional final concert. (in Hebrew with English subtitles)| Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

As Madison novelist Jennifer Chiaverini tells the tale, one of the greatest military intelligence agents of the Civil War did some of her best work with ginger cakes.

Elizabeth Van Lew — Lizzie to her friends — plied Confederate officers with baked goods to gain access to Union prisoners of war. She secreted info about tactics and troop movements in eggshells that could be transported past wary Confederate pickets, and smuggled escaped prisoners back to the North. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

The Jonas Brothers cancelled its tour Wednesday due to a "deep rift," two days before the first show, and three days after Joe Jonas had an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to promote it. Is there a chance this "rift" could be a publicity stunt? Associated Press photo by Jordan Strauss.| Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(3)

Mahat Ali (left) and Faysal Ahmed play Somali pirates who take Hanks hostage in “Captain Phillips,” based on a real event.

"Captain Phillips" is a portrait of first-world power and third-world poverty with Tom Hanks piloting the ship of state.

Here you just thought it was a thriller. However, everything about this story of modern-day piracy on the high seas screams political allegory except the film itself. Director Paul Greengrass has demonstrated a proclivity for true-life dramas like "Bloody Sunday," about the massacre of Irish protesters by British troops, and the Sept. 11 drama "United 93." | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

Halloween brings outs lots of old spirits. Maybe that's why these classic horror movies are back to haunt Milwaukee theaters.

'Poltergeist' at Times

Director Tobe Hooper (the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre") and producer Steven Spielberg make the perils of suburban sprawl scarier than ever in 1982's "Poltergeist," showing at midnight Friday at the Times Theater, 5906 W. Vliet St. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Article

It will be fascinating to see how the Fox series "Glee" deals with the death of regular cast member Cory Monteith, who played the sensitive jock Finn in tonight's episode.

Monteith died of a heroin overdose in June. He was an integral part of an already emotional and sentimental show, and tonight's episode will surely trigger the water-works as cast members, among them Lea Michelle, pay tribute to the beloved character. | Oct. 10, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(7)